hot potato

American  

noun

1. Informal. a situation or issue that is difficult, unpleasant, or risky to deal with.

2. British Informal. a baked potato.

---

hot potato British  

noun

1. slang an awkward or delicate matter

---

hot potato Idioms  

1. A problem so controversial and sensitive that it is risky to deal with. For example, Gun control is a political hot potato. This term, dating from the mid-1800s, alludes to the only slightly older expression drop like a hot potato, meaning “to abandon something or someone quickly” (lest one be burned). The idiom alludes to the fact that cooked potatoes retain considerable heat because they contain a lot of water.

---

Etymology

Origin of hot potato

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

They all agreed that they would get rid of this hot potato, adjourn quickly and go home for the holidays.

From Salon • Dec. 20, 2024

Greece’s foreign ministry made a ham-handed bid to get rid of the hot potato by sneaking Ocalan out of the country and trying to hide him in the Greek Embassy in Kenya.

From Seattle Times • May 31, 2023

Maher said that over the past month negotiations have become a game of hot potato, with sellers and buyers both asking the other to cover the tax.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2023

However, Ms Jones accepted there are opponents to the tax, describing it as a "hot potato" in tourism.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2023

Or, in his case, passed off like a hot potato to the next school.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Related Words

• crisis
• emergency
• exposure
• insecurity
• instability
• jeopardy
• menace
• peril
• pitfall
• possibility
• probability
• risk
• threat
• uncertainty
• vulnerability